The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-09-22
" The Greer County Question Set
tied"
AUSTIN, September Is, 1887

AUSTIN, September Is, 1887.
Mr.. EDIToR:-It is with much 0it1idence
which is, however, overruled by my self
respect and my love for the small rem
nant of the class of citizens to which
belong, that l now, with great and undi.
minished confidence in the purity of the
motive which 1 believe has ever guided
you as public journalist in advocating
whatever policy you deem wise and Just
that most respectfully crave leave to ad.
dress you and through your valuable pa,
per our state officers and the people OF
Texas on this subject. 1 first explain
that am surviving volunteer soldier OF
1885, of the army of San Jacinto.
During more than ffty-one years, though
| was but private soldier, 1 have in com
mon with my fellow-sodiers enjoyed the
recognition of this distinction as the
greatest honor that could have been be-
slowed upon me. Cheered Oh by the evil
IDENTIFY sincere profession of gratitude
which freely flowed from the lips and pens
of my fellow-citizens in behalf of my
comrades in arms, spent much of my
prime of manhood in similar though less
obvious services, and in doing SO, spent
nearly all of the liberal donations of land,
then not valuable, with which the republic
of Texas rewarded me. But in this was
but one of thousand or two. Nearly all
of the soldiers of 1886 have done precisely
as | have done. With pride we
have not only submitted to, but
even enjoyed that self-imposed poverty
which is known to be the result of our
patriotism, and the outspoken gratitude
of those to whom we have given the
greatest state in the union, has consoled
US in the years of our adversely in the de
cline of life.
Then it was not great surprise to us
that the legislature, unsolicited by US, by
act of March 10, 1881, donated to each of
US who yet survived, and to each surviving
widow of one of our deceased comrades,
certificate for 1880 acres of land, to be
located upon any of the public domain.
But the question was: Where shall we
find unapproprirted domain on which to
locate? AS body we were too poor to
locate our certificates, and, as time
demonstrated, we believed that before we
could procure our certificates so much of
the domain would already be located as to
render search for vacant land extremely
difficult
What should we do? Our embarrass-
ments compelled many of us to sell our
certificates, at great sacrifice, to specu-
lators. who controlled the market, and
whom we were unwilling to encourage.
Some of us, including myself, determined
to let our certificates die on our hands,
rather than do so.
In this crisis Colonel John NJ. Swisher,
a fellow veteran, conceived the idea of
locating our lands in Greer county; of
thoroughly sitting the controverted
claims of the federal government and the
state Of Texas to that territory, and of
procuring patents to our locations there
IN, all at his own expense, and, by circu-
lar letter to his fellow-veterans, he offered
to do so, on the condition that each claim
should be located in two surveys of $40
acres each, of which each of us was to
take choice of one, which should be pat
ented to US, and the other was
to be patented to HIM as a
reward for his trouble This was no more
than locaters had always exacted and OBJ
tanned for locating alone. When he 10
Gated the certificates both Governor Ire
land and Land Commissioner Walsh fully
agreed with him in the opinion that this
procedure was IN strict compliance with
the laws of the state; and they according
ly Issued the patents. That the three
were fully convinced of the justice and
lawfulness of these proceedings l can
never doubt, and do not believe that any
man who knows them can doubt it. Had
l doubted it, l should never have per-
mltted my certificate to be located in
Greer county; and l feel safe in saying
the same for my fellow-veterans gen
orally.
Colonel Swisher has complied with his
contract to the very letter, and, in doing
so, he has spent his fortune and exhausted
his resources. To his faithfulness and
efficiency in proving, by demonstrative
evidence, this clear right of Texas
to Greer county, and thus reyiying